A glimpse of Princess Balasa Cantacuzène of Baleni

(Imagesource) I first came across the beautiful Princess Balaşa (née Marie Blanche) Cantacuzène (Cantacuzino in Romanian) whilst reading Patrick Leigh Fermor's marvellous book, 'Between the Woods and the Water'. Wanting to know more about her lead to a fascinating (and terribly sad) journey spanning the late 1930s through to the 1970s taking in her love affair with the author (referred to as PLF from this point on), the Second World War and then... what happened next.

Balaşa and her sister were genuine Princesses, says THIS link, though not, perhaps, "in the British sense, denoting royalty, but rather in the European sense denoting nobility". Most of the young members of the Cantacuzino family today live in Western Europe - see a family tree HERE.

Balaşa (1899-1976) is first mentioned in PLF's preface where he thanks her for helping him translate the Romanian legend of Miorita "in Moldavia long ago." My curiosity was tweaked.

(Photo source: Printesa Balaşa, 1920) There is no further mention of her in this volume, and to find her again, one must turn to Words of Mercury (pub. John Murray, 2003 - see THIS site for info on this superb book). In it, we read that PLF lived with Balaşa, apparently "the first great love of his life", on her family estate in Baleni. In THIS article, the journalist states that she was "one of his two great loves". What puzzles me then, is PLF's reticence to mention her in his own writings very much. He never alludes to the fact that they had ever been lovers at all, and yet we know this to be true. All he does say is that she and her sister Elena (known as Pomme) were "good, beautiful, courageous, gifted, imaginative, immersed in literature and the arts, kind, funny, unconventional; everybody loved them and so did I".

Balaşa, an artist and twelve years PLF's senior, married Paco Amat y Torres in 1924, but by the time PLF fell in love with her in Greece around 1936/7 (I'm guessing), Paco had disappeared from the picture entirely.

'She was 32, and I was 20. We met at just the right time and fell into each other's arms. It was instant, we clicked immediately. We went off together and lived in a watermill in the Peloponnese for five months. I was writing, she was painting. It was heavenly,' PLF told William Dalrymple.

(Photo source: Printesa Elena Cantacuzino)James O'Fee shares an extract on his site from an article in the Daily Telegraph (12 May 1990), with an intro by PLF:

"...before that year was out, I was back in Rumania at a place called Baleni, and for a long time. It belonged to two Rumanian sisters a few years older than I; we had met in Athens where one of them was a painter, and a light-hearted affinity sprang up. I wanted to start writing, we pooled forces, and after a summer and autumn painting and writing in a Peloponnesian watermill, the question arose: where now?

An answer soon surfaced: 'We've got this tumbledown house in Moldavia. Why not there?' After a journey by sea to Constanza and north from Galatz by train, we got out at a small station where a carriage with an old Polish coachman was waiting: an hour's drive brought us to Baleni. It was a large, rambling, one-storeyed white house with a village and trees and a courtyard fill of friendly dogs, with the wintry dales of Moldavia rolling away all round. To the east, beyond the Prut and the Dniestr, Russia began.

(...)

...During the next year or two, this was my sheet anchor. There were journeys all over Rumania: a leisurely expedition with horses across north Bessarabia was particularly romantic (now it is entirely annexed by Russia and confusingly renamed 'Republic of Moldavia') - and I can still see the long trestle-tables spread under the oak branches, all set about with jugs of wine and kvass; and there were journeys by canoe in the vast whispering labyrinth where the Danube falls to pieces.

The summer days of 1939, while the peace of Europe disintegrated, were without a flaw. Two of the English guests staying there - Henry Nevile, who had just left school, and I - tore ourselves away in early September to join the army. As we all waved goodbye in the Gara de Nord in Bucharest ('Back in a few months!') we none of us realized how great and how lasting the break would be."

(Photo source: Balaşa, 1920) And so, we learn that they met and shared their lives together in the Peloponnese and then returned to *Baleni (Covurlui county, near Galati)....

"For Leigh Fermor, this was one of the happiest periods of his life. For two years he lived there, savouring the last remnants of a world that was just about to disappear," writes William Dalrymple.

War had broken out and PLF left to enlist. Evidently, he had every intention of returning to her, for he believed the war would be all over and done with in six months. Instead, however, it ended both the romance and the world which surrounded it.

So then, I wanted to know, what happened to Balaşa, this woman with a great sense of fun and adventure who adored dressing up in exotic clothes? What became of her?

The answer comes yet again from PLF, who went back to find her a little over a quarter century later in 1965. Why did he take so long? Clearly because the Iron Curtain came down with an almighty clang - and probably also to protect Balaşa, for having contact with foreigners would have put her in great danger. Here (James O'Fee - In search of "Balaşa Cantacuzène" 4 ) is what PLF wrote describing his return and what had happened during his absence:

"The sisters had been nurses during the war; the land was confiscated; and on a grim morning in the late 1940s, a truck drove up with police and a commissar. They were allowed a suitcase each, and a quarter of an hour to pack. (The Cantacuzènes had been there for many generations.)

(Photo source:"Casa moldoveneasca" de Balasa Cantacuzino, 1938) Villagers in tears filled their arms with loaves, cheeses, eggs and poultry; then a truck drove them away for ever. The painter-sister and a male cousin tried to escape down to the Black Sea to Constantinople in a rowing boat, but they were betrayed and imprisoned. (Her cousin was lucky not to have been sent, like several of their relations, to die in the Danube-Black Sea canal. Never completed, this horrible trench was a dustbin for 'elements of putrid background' - this was the official term; it is said to have killed off 100,000 undesirables.) After their eviction, their family was taken 200 kilometres from where they belonged and put in a garret in a Carpathian foothill-town.

The moment the veto was lifted I went back to Rumania in 1965, with a short-term visa. Mixing with foreigners incurred severe punishment, but harbouring them indoors was much worse; so the visit had to be made by stealth, at night, and on the back of a motorbike borrowed by the Ophelia niece, who was working as a draughtman in Bucharest.

(Photo source: Balasa Cantacuzino) We found them in their attic. In spite of the interval, the fine looks of my friends, the thoughtful clear glance and the humour were all intact; it was as though we had parted a few months ago, instead of twenty-six years. Their horrible vicissitudes were narrated with detachment and speed: time was short and their were only brief pauses for sleep on a couple of chairs. The rest of our forty-eight hours - we dared risk no more - were filled with pre-war memories, the lives of our friends, and a great deal of laughter. It was a miraculous reunion. The sisters now eked out their state pittance by teaching French, English and painting.

Other Rumanian meetings came later, when they were eventually allowed abroad for two or three weeks now and then. There were joyful visits to friends in England and France and Greece. Early thoughts of leaving Rumania lapsed in the end, they resisted the idea partly from feeling it was too late in the day; also, they said that Rumania, after all, was where they belonged; secretly, perhaps, they shrank from being a burden to anyone. One by one the same dread illness carried them away. Nobility of character marked them all. They wrote many and brilliant letters and contact was unbroken. For many people under alien regimes, life is lived vicariously, pen in hand." (Taken from the article Rumania-Travels in a Land before Darkness Fell, Daily Telegraph Weekend Magazine, 12 May 1990)

(Photo source: Printesa Elena Cantacuzino) Poor Balaşa. Poor Pomme. It reads with such familiarity, resonating with all the loss, the humiliation, the brutality inflicted upon so many thousands of others at the hands of the communist regime. Captain Miclescu and his wife come immediately to mind. Enemies of the people... the inteligentia... those born into the 'wrong' social class - dispossessed, abused, imprisoned, deported, murdered.

And so, Balaşa and Pomme were kicked out of their home at Baleni, betrayed, imprisoned and deported by the communists to Pucioasa. They were branded 'origine putreda' ('of rotten origin' - the label given by the communists to those from prominent families),'dusmani ai poporului' ('enemies of the people') and lost everything whilst Baleni was turned into a lunatic asylum. What a hideous, ugly world...

(*Photo source: Cavoul Cantacuzinilor, Baleni) Balaşa never returned home alive again. She died 200km away in Pucioasa (north of Targoviste) in 1976 at the age of 77 after goodness knows how many years of poverty and unimaginable hardship. Pomme brought her home and laid her to rest in the family crypt at Baleni, today in the same lamentable state of decay as so many other once-lovely properties of yesterday's nobility across the country. Pomme joined her sister in 1983. She has a school named after her in Pucioasa: Scoala Nr 4: Elena Donici Cantacuzino. (For more on that, please see Anca's heart-warming comment below this blog post)

Balaşa and Pomme do not feature in Wikipedia's list of 'notable' members of the Cantacuzino family. And yet, they are amongst them to me. They were to PLF, too, along with all those who have read his books and loved them. Balaşa and Pomme, you are not forgotten.

*My thanks to Dan Dionescu for sending me the links relating to Baleni.

Apologies to Dictando, from whom I took several of the above photographs of Balasa and Pomme without asking - I tried to leave a comment but was unable and there is no contact e-mail. So sorry, Tudor Mavrodin.

Dear Silvia,
Yeeeeeeeeeeees (and God bless'em - especially the ones I know !) But I understand that they're not from the Baleni branch since Leon was the last male heir and had no sons - there are no Baleni Cantacuzinos left. Is that right?

I am shamed when I am telling you I never heard of Balasa Cantacuzino. And I am even more shamed that I learn of her here. I learn more about my country and the people of my country from your blog than I learn from my own people. Thank you Sarah for another beautiful post writen with your sensibility and love for my country like always.

I read your fascinating account about Marie-Blanche Cantacuzino! It is true she was a Royal Princess by born: the majority of her ancestors were from the imperial family of Cantacuzino and from the princely families of Ghica (Ghika, Ghyka), Calimachi (Callimaki, -ky), Racovita (Racovitza), and Basarab (the Mihnesti Branch, also, infamely and missunderstadingly called "Draculesti", because of Order of Dragon's (St. George) knightship of its members!). All those details are form Cantacuzino genealogical tree, given me by my friend, Prince Alexandru-Ioan Cantacuzino (from Serban-Voda Branch)...

Balasa Cantacuzino died in Pucioasa town, Prahova county (judet) and was buried there, not in BALENI! Are You sure it is Baleni-Dambovita?! Because otherwise, it may be a confusion whith Baleni, near Galati (in 1938, Covurlui county!), where was Ghica-Baleni & Cantacuzino residence (conac), cca 1800-1900! A few details about Balasa and her sister Elena, in Ioan Mihai Cantacuzino (Jean Michel Cantacuzene), O mie de ani in Balcani, Albatros Publishing House, Bucuresti, 1996, p. 268, 468, plate IX (Cantacuzino, Moldova (Basarabia) Branch) (Mille ans dans les Balkans, Christian, Paris, 1992)

Dear Mr Dionescu,
Thank you so much for taking the time to both read and comment - and with such a lot of information! Wonderful. It is such a sad story...

First, I have edited the text - indeed, as Jean also pointed out, I got the wrong Balasa to be at the museum and I am very glad about that... I couldn't bear for her to be so far from home, so the photo and that paragraph have gone. I should have known better since the death of our Balasa is much to recent to have been in such an ancient sarcophagus. Thank you both for the correction.

The Baleni I have read about I am sure is the one near Galati, therefore Covurlui, not Dambovita. This is mentioned several times by PLF is various places. But please, if I'm wrong, don't hesitate to correct me.

I also read in various sources that Pomme took Balasa back to Baleni after her death to bury her in the family crypt. Is that incorrect? Was she buried in Pucioasa and remains there to this day? If that is the case, then do you have any idea what happened to Pomme? Is she at Baleni or at Pucioasa?

So many questions!

Thank you once again so very much for your e-mail and for commenting!
Numai bine!
Sarah

My dear Sarah,
I have no words....as I can not stop the tears and sorrow..
Is so unfair, although I know life could be unfair...there were unfair times..and still are; in a different way though.
I was 17 years old when Princess Balasa died, I was having a wonderful life and I wish I could know her story than...
I wish I could open her door and listen to all the stories she might have had and keep them as a national treasure.
She might have liked it as the old lady I ones met in Poiana Tapului, living her life alone, with great memories, nedeed to be told.
Thank You - again - for making me a better Romanian with every story you give.

Dear Sarah, how right you are when you say that Pomme and Balasa are not forgotten! I am one of Mrs Donici Cantacuzino' s former student, I learnt English and French from her and I owe to this wonderful person my career, first as a teacher and later on as an educational consultant and why not, my way of thinking. In a society so limited by the communist regime, a lot of children/ teenagers in the little town of Pucioasa in the Dambovita county had the chance to discover the fabulous world of languages, painting, stories from the past and the charm and elegance of a princess. I took private lessons of English and French from Mrs Donici starting with 1967 when I was 10 and for almost 8 years I used to go twice a week to the place where this lady of my youth was living in Pucioasa – a small room in a very modest attic (whom she called, with her contagious optimism and sense of humour, the Cathedral!) situated in a house on Libertatii Street (Freedom Street!!-ironic, isn' t it?) owned by a familiy in town, Radulescu.Starting with 1974-75 or maybe earlier, princess Balasa was also living at the same address, I can clearly remember her – very thin, beautiful, with a majestic look, sitting on the large bed that was in the room, always writing something or reading or listening to the radio with the head phones on while Mrs Donici – as we used to call her was teaching us the English or French lesson at a small round table in the other corner of the room.
Later on, I passed an exam in French and English at the University in Bucharest and returned to Pucioasa in 1982 to work as a teacher.When Mrs Donici died in 1983, unfortunately I was not in town, but I know that the Radulescu family and some former students managed to take her body to Baleni to be burried in Cantacuzino family vault, in Galati county.
In 1997 I became the headteacher of a school in Pucioasa and as a sign of respect and gratitude, I named the school after Mrs Donici Cantacuzino (I remember I organised quite an event on that occasion, inviting former friends and students, members of the Radulescu family etc.) and even designed and introduced an optional course for lower secondary students called Who Elena Donici Cantacuzino was conceived like some kind of an oral history approach, with interviewing people in the community who knew Mrs Donici, going to the place where she used to live etc. One little comment about the school – between 1997-2004 it was officially recognised by the Ministry of Education as the best school in Romania, visisted by many educationalist from Romania and abroad – who knows, maybe princess Elena' spirit was showing the right direction and motivating people!
Starting with 2004, I began working as a free lancer and these days, at the end of a busy year and the beginning of another one, I had a little bit of time for myself to recapture moments from the past – and this is how I' ve come across your text and have written this message. Happy New Year!

How lovely to read your comment above - thank you so much both for visiting and for taking the time to write. It is wonderful to hear from someone who knew them - particularly one who loved them, respected them.

To hear about your lessons with Balasa's sister and how she so inspired you to the extent that you named the school after her and even designed a course in her name - that is really marvellous! From one teacher to another (yes, I'm one too!), chapeau bas! Congratulations that it was named the best in Romania. Indeed, Pomme's spirit continues to inspire and nourish eager minds. Really lovely. What an exceptional way for her to be remembered.

You know Anca, I felt so sad when I had finished writing this post, but you have shone a ray of sunshine. Thank you so very, very much!

Last summer, travelling from Iasi, I stopped in Baleni (Galati) to finally see the village where Balasa and Elena are buried and light a candle in their memory.Also, I took pictures and talked to some people in the village. If anyone interested, you can read the posts on my blog following this link: http://ancatirca.blogspot.ro/search/label/Printesa%20Elena%20Donici%20Cantacuzino or using the tags Printesa Balasa Cantacuzino/ Printesa Elena Donici Cantacuzino.

Sarah, you describe Pucioasa as "nondescript". You may be interested to learn that the town has the reputation of being environmentally the cleanest in Romania. Boring? Probably yes. But it may provide some comfort to know that it is well looked after.

You are welcome. I helped set up relations between my Danish Engineering College and Valahia University Targoviste and have been to Pucioasa three or four times. It is, as I say, pleasant and ever so slightly boring. The town is apparently also famous for its tuica, but you could say that about tens of thousands of Romanian towns.

I have often thought of returning there and talking to people about what they recall of Balasa, but fear I have left it too late.

Have you read Artemis Cooper's biog of PLF? It's a very good read. I think Balasa was even more than 12 years older than Paddy, but he was such a gentleman...

Chris, take a look at Anca's comment further up on the comments section here. Should you ever return to Pucioasa, maybe you'd like to contact her? She is a ine of information, was one of Pomme's pupils and remembers both her and Princess Balasa very well.

Yup, I read it. It's a tribute to your blog (described as the best on Romania by a geezer whose name I'll get to you) that you unearth people like Anca. I guess she must be retired by now but probably still lives in Pucioasa'

Dear Sarah
I have found the name of Ina in the following book that you can see on google books: Patrick Leigh Fermor: "An Adventure" .By Artemis Cooper. If you search for Elena and Constantin you will find the name of the girl. Ina was the daughter of Princess Elena (Pomme) and Constantin Donici.
Warm greetings,
Lourdes Viñuela

I am a former student of Mrs. Elena Donici-Cantacuzino. She taught me French and English from 1967 through 1979. I still remember my first lessons around the round table with a shoe box filled with small toys. I was in first grade and didn't know how to write or read in Romanian. She was picking up a toy and was asking me in French "qu'est-ce que c'est?". She was an amazing person and teacher! She taught me not only two beautiful languages, but also courage and to always follow my dreams! She died in the summer of 1983 and I am glad I was able to pay my respects in Puciosa, just before the funeral car departed for Baleni. I cherish her memory and all the stories she shared with me during the 16 years of studying and practicing French and English! She is my favorite teacher of all times!
I still remember Printesa Balasa, as Anca Tirca is describing her, beatutiful and frail painting or reading on the other side of the room and always talking to me in French. Printesa Balasa never had children. Ina was Mrs. Donici and Mr. Donici only child (daughter). She lived in France, never had children, and died of lung cancer in the 1970's just before her aunt. Mr. Donici died in 1965-1966, just before I was starting my French lessons. What a great family! I feel so lucky and honored to have known them!
It is amazing that their memory is still alive in the hearts of so many people!

There were so many lives completely ruined by the war and the disruption of political changes in Romania. My heart is broken not only for the princesses and their families but all those effected by displacment and restriction. It's too bad that as it used to be, it still remains: that a few people are wealthy and the rest are very poor in Romania. Politics changed but not the structure of the economy. I wish so much that these people could have lived their dreams. So sad.

Sarah, just a more formal word of thanks for this very worthwhile project. Balasha's sad story definitely deserves as wide an audience as can be reached, especially now that PLF has gone and the Broken Road and Artemis's biog are (I hope) selling well and reaching a new audience. I salute you.

Another details about Balasa and his familly in The World Mine Oyster – The Memoirs of Matila Ghyka, K. C. V. O., M. C., translated from the french by the author, with an introduction by Patrick Leigh Fermor, Heinemann, London, Melbourne, Toronto, 1961.
Images with Balasa and Pomme to NPG, London

I am another former student of Elena Donici Cantacuzino (Pomme). I am an architect and art historian living in Bucharest. Everything it was written here on the blog is pretty much true and the remembrance of the lady professor and her "cathedral" is vivid. No need to say more about the crucial influence of Madame Hélène in my childhood, in my youth, in my adult life... If everyone should ascertain "la rencontre d'une vie" then this remains mine's undoubtedly. And I must say I met illustrious people later in my life, glorious intellectuals and artists. But Madame Hélène infused me a kind of enthusiasm, love of life (my God, such big words...) irrepressible by any harshness. Which I am benefiting now highly, BTW. What details I can add... the beautiful child portraits of her grand-grand-parents, hanging in front of my chair while sitting in the attic around the round table (evoked here), some exquisite books, Shakespearean editions, and funny reading sessions from Winnie the Pooh to Caesar and Cleopatra by GB Shaw. What a laugh, what a joy! If there is something that gives me goose bumps is how cruelty of someone's destiny may occasion the other's luck.
ML

Hello, I'm so excited to find all this about the Cantacuzino family from Baleni. I was born and raised in Baleni, Galati. As in the romanian tradition I was raised by my maternal grandmother. She told me many fascinating stories about the Cantacuzinos. My grandmother talked with much admiration and nostalgia about the princeses. I used to visit the Cantacuzino cript as a child and every time that I returned to the village I went to the cemetery to visit my grandparents and I always stopped at the Cantacusino cript. My grandmother's name was also Ileana. I will return to your blog with more stories when I will have the time.Thank you. Aurelia

Last summer, travelling from Iasi, I stopped in Baleni (Galati) to finally see the village where Balasa and Elena are buried and light a candle in their memory.Also, I took pictures and talked to some people in the village. If anyone interested, you can read the posts on my blog following these links:

Dear Anca,
What a fantastic blog, and not just one post about Balasa and Pomme but HEAPS!! Wow, I stayed along time reading and looking at the marvellous photos. I wanted to leave comments but wasn't able - so sorry. I couldn't work out how (niet kultur!). Thank ou so much for the links - and for such love, dedication and hard work.